"A [preacher] who does not love art, poetry, music and nature can be dangerous. Blindness and deafness toward the beautiful are not incidental; they are necessarily reflected in his [preaching]." — BXVI

05 December 2008

Father Elijah, Cardinal Newman, the Anti-Christ

When my eyes begin to blur and my head spin from reading too much philosophy & theology for the thesis, I turn to popular literature. Right now, I am reading Michael O'Brien's Father Elijah: An Apocalypse. In one scene, Fr. Elijah is on retreat and trying to figure out how he will carry out the Holy Father's request that he approach the Anti-Christ and try to convert him. To help him with these discernment, Father turns to the Advent sermons of John Cardinal Newman on the anti-Christ. I found them on-line. Here's an excerpt from Sermon One:

Malignant principle of Antichrist is always at work

2. Now, in the next place, what is told us about Antichrist by the sacred writers? This first of all, as has been already noticed, that he embodies a certain spirit, which existed even in the days of the Apostles. "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." "Even now there are many Antichrists." And what that spirit is, St. John declares in a subsequent chapter. " Every spirit that confesseth not that JESUS CHRIST is come in the flesh, is not of GOD; and this is that spirit of the Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world." Here we see what its doctrine is to be; but on that I shall not here enlarge. I am speaking of its working, which had begun in the days of the Apostles, and has doubtless continued ever since. Doubtless this malignant principle has been at work since from time to time, though kept under by him that "withholdeth." Nay, for what we know, at this very time there is a fierce struggle, the spirit of Antichrist attempting to rise, and the political power in those countries which are prophetically Roman, firm and vigorous in repressing it. What that spirit is, it would be beside my purpose here to attempt to ascertain, any more than to enlarge upon its doctrine; though certainly there is at this very time, as in the days of our fathers, a fierce and lawless principle every where at work,-a spirit of rebellion against GOD and man, which the powers of government in each country can barely keep under with their greatest efforts. Whether this which we witness be that spirit of Antichrist, which is one day to be let loose, this ambitious spirit, the parent of all heresy, schism, sedition, revolution, and war,-whether this be so or not, certainly the present framework of society and government, as far as it is the representative of Roman power, would seem to be that which withholdeth, and Antichrist is that which will rise when this restraint fails.

I just read Father Elijah a couple weekends ago at the sacrifice of homework. I really enjoyed the book immensely.

I, too, noticed similarities between Obama and the antichrist figure in this book. They weren't so much with the characters themselves but with the way people treat the figures. In the book, they refer to the leader as someone who is really fighting for good and unity and world peace. They have a near-religious faith in the man which replaces the traditional Western Judeo-Christian belief system. It really is a fascinating book.

I read an article several weeks ago addressing the fact that Michael O'Brien had received several letters or emails from people asking him if Obama was the Antichrist.

O'Brien's response? No. Obama is far too shallow to be the antichrist. Bu he did consider the similarities, especially with the speech he gave in Germany. The people were almost hypnotized, and there are elements from the story that seem to be playing out in him.

I know we had this discussion in an earlier post, but ... you will notice that Newman sides with the proposition that the AntiChrist will be one person, viz:

It has been more or less implied in the foregoing remarks, that Antichrist is one man, an individual, not a power or a kingdom. Such surely is the impression left on the mind by the Scripture notices concerning him, after taking fully into account the figurative character of prophetical language; and such was the universal belief of the early Church.

"Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour."

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We have had many "little" anti-christs: Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc.

Stalin's murder of 20 million Russians and Ukranians, Mao's murder of untold tens of millions in China during his cultural revolution, and Hilter's murder of 6 million Jews is certainly comparable with Obama's support of infanticide which since Roe v Wade in 1972 has resulted in the murder of some 50 million babies.

Thus, is Obama comparable to Stalin, Mao and Hilter?

I answer yes.

Is he THE anti-christ?

I have a hard time imagining that a mere Chicago "gangsta" masquerading as a "community activitist" could rise to that height (or should I say descend to that depth?) of ignominy.

I think Obama is simply another "gangsta" turned politician - uh, on second thought, is there really a difference between a "gangsta" and a professional politician?

Speaking of anti-christ, there was a very good article on Muhammed (or Mohammet or however his name is spelled in English) over at:

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/012014.html

A reader of Lawrence Auster's blogsite sent the following comment and I agree with it:

"Thanks for sending those Koranic passages again. Every time I read them it makes my skin crawl. Muhammad was the most evil man in history by far. Stalin, Hitler, Mao--they were small fry. They killed a large number of people and they disappeared into the history books and their movements disappeared soon after. But that "M" man, he left behind a cancer that will keep killing people so long as there is mankind."

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Think about it: ever since Islam started, it has acted like a cancer spreading over the Earth. In 1571 the Church had to face Islam at the Battle of Lepanto and at the same time the great Protestant schisms of Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII and others.

Today we face the twin threats of atheist humanism (whose hero is undoubtably Obama) and an ever growing Islam.

Well, on October 7th, 1571 Catholics prayed the Rosary and the Islamic fleet was defeated. The Church also survived the Protestant schism. I think we need to pray the Rosary again. That's the best way to fight the spirit of anti-christ.

Father, was my last response on Mohammad and Islam off limits? Did I write something wrong? If so, then I apologize. Nevertheless, I do think we have forgotten the lesson of the Battle of Lepanto. Praying the Rosary is one of the best ways of defeating the spirit of anti-christ which is a prevalent in Islamic fanaticism as it is in atheist humanism.

Here's the thing about Antichrist: "He will lead astray even the elect, if that were possible." That means that the when the real Antichrist comes, "even the elect" will be on the very verge of believing that he is a great help to the world, etc. Consequently, I think that when he comes, "even the elect" will just have small, nagging doubts about him, and will be "all but" willing to believe him.

Thus, when there is someone that many people think is THE Antichrist -- like some think of Obama -- he won't be the one. It's the one that everyone thinks is ok (except for some doubts from "the elect"), the one who looks good, the one that people are willing to give power to since he will "help us," that is the possible Antichrist.

I once read, I think in the book "The Prophets and Our Times," by Fr. Gerald Culleton, the idea that throughout history there have been "dress rehearsals" for the coming of the Antichrist: Nero, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc.

Culleton, who wrote the above-mentioned book during World War II, commented on the belief many had at that time that Hitler was the Antichrist. He said (roughly, from my memory): "Even though there are many things to make us think that [Hitler] is the Antichrist, my reading of the prophecies makes me think that this is not the case. Why? Because, as hard as it is to believe, since we live [during WW II] in the most evil times the world has seen, things will be even worse during the time of the Antichrist. In fact, things will be SO BAD [my emphasis] that men and women will even be living together without the bond of matrimony and doing so publicly with no shame."

I don't think Fr. Culleton would have even been capable of believing the great evil we see now with abortion, and, not just public "shacking up," but homosexual "marriage!" Yikes!!!!

Couple this with the statement made by Father Paul Of Maul about the powers of hell being held in check because of the abundance of priests (in his time) saying so many masses counteracting hell's power. And now the reduction of the number of priests (and masses) in our time due to the sexual perversion rampant is so many modern seminaries, (thankfully being dealt with now) which resulted from Stalin's plan to subvert the priesthood. (A web search of Bella Dodd will provide the details of this plot.) After all, straight men will not continue in a "gay" oriented seminary, which fact eliminates over 90% of the candidates and accounts for the priest shortage, rather than the spurious arguments being put forth about not allowing priests to marry, being the cause of the shortage.

OK, Father - but my point remains: Islam has a 1400 year history of fanaticism and terrorism. There is no comparison between the Koran that advocates dhimmitude (submission of all non-Muslims) and the Christian Bible. In Arabic there are 10000 names for God, and not one of them is love. Islam itself means submission and Jihad struggle. The Koran openly encourages the Muslim faithful to subjugate or murder non-Muslims. It is a false pretense of Western liberalism to assume that Islam is a religion of peace. It was never founded that way and it is not and never will be. There is no history of mediation between Allah and the believer, no sacrificer - only submission and war. That's the way the Koran is written and that's the way it is.

Anon., Obama is pro-abortion. He believes that there is nothing morally or legally wrong with killing a child in the womb. He is also pro-infanticide. He supported laws that refuse medical treatment to babies who survive the doctor's best attempts to kill them. No pro-abortion politician calls himself "pro-abortion." They are "pro-choice"...except when it comes to the child's choice to be born and live a happy life.

He may be a Christian. Fine. I don't know that means to him. As for helping the poor, the devil is a Christian. He can quote scripture and help the poor. He believes very firmly in Christ and all that Christ did and does and he fights against it nonetheless.

Theologians have speculated that the anti-Christ will not realize that he's the anti-Christ. He will be a man who will be perfectly deceived by the father of lies. The anti-Christ will be born from the womb of a rotting society which once knew and served Christ.

The message will be: Christ without the cross; Christian principles stripped of the person of Christ and of anything supernatural.

Christianity without the cross is demonic. Such were the words of Christ to Peter, as well as his warning that to be his disciple means to carry the cross and follow him. Christ is THE WAY.

We are to put our trust in God. The anti-Christ's message will be: Put your trust in yourself, and the he will lead the way..

Hello. Can't recall how I found this blog this evening but I'm glad I did. Love it! I was interested in the Islam comments. I know a little bit about the Islamic faith...enough to know that they love Mary and mention her 34 times in the Koran and believe in her Immaculate Conception and the Virgin birth of Our Dear Lord Jesus. In fact I am working for the Cause of Beatification of Sister Marie deMandat-Grancey, Foundress of Mary's House in Ephesus, Turkey where Muslims and Christians pray side by side in peace as they honor Mary, Mother of Jesus. I find great hope and peace in the "common ground" already established by Our Lady in Her House. There seems no way for me to dialogue with Muslims about faith being the simple layperson that I am. I would never want to make a mistake and compromise our one true faith in any way...but I can pray! I have recently returned from Mary's House in Ephesus. If anyone would like to join us as we pray in hope that Our Lady will obtain peace between Muslims and Christians through the intercession of Sister Marie, please visit my blog at www.sistermarie.com. Consider reading some of the material and signing the online petition. Our Holy Father is trying to work for peace with the Muslims by responding to their invitation at A Common Word (read more at www.acommonword.com). Let's follow his lead and pray as per his request during his Papal Homily at Mary's House. “From here in Ephesus, a city blessed by the presence of Mary Most Holy — who we know is loved and venerated also by Muslims - let us lift up to the Lord a special prayer for peace between peoples.” - Pope Benedict XVI, Papal Homily at "Mary's House" in Ephesus, Turkey, November 29, 2006. I have little faith in our miserable human efforts but I have all faith in the intercessory power of Our Lady and Sister Marie. God bless you all.

oh..and..btw...Panaya Kapulo is the name of one of the chapters in the Father Elijah book! Panaya Kapulo is the Turkish name for Mary's House and the surrounding area. The translation is Doorway to the Virgin. In Greek it is Panaghia Capula.

The problem is, even the elect are being led astray by Obama. He is contagious even to conservative christians. Obama most definately is the antichrist. He is a lie. He's not a US citizen and speaks only lies. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08340/932905-153.stm